


In Light of the Dark

by litra



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Dark Leia Organa, Empress Leia Organa, Gen, Happy Ending, POV Second Person, Rebellion, Remix, Sort Of, Spies & Secret Agents, The Dark Side of the Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23851318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra
Summary: Your name is Leia Organa,You are many things, but always yourself.A remix of While the Sky crashes down, by HiNerdsIts Cat and podficed by Reena_Jenkins
Relationships: Leia Organa & Darth Vader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31
Collections: remixapod 2020





	In Light of the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/gifts).
  * Inspired by [[podfic] While the Sky Crashes Down](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17200193) by [HiNerdsItsCat (HiLarpItsCat)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiLarpItsCat/pseuds/HiNerdsItsCat), [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins). 



> A Huge Thank you to minnabird for the super-fast Beta.

Your name is Leia Organa. 

You are a princess of Alderaan. Your mother is the queen and your father is the galactic senator. They are not your birth parents but they love you very much, as do the people of your home planet. You have a sister named Winter, and together you get into all kinds of trouble. Your parents scold you, but they also teach you how to hide, how to talk in code and say one thing when you mean another. 

You and Winter have tutors from across the galaxy and while some of them teach law and history, others teach you how to hone your mind, how to control your emotions so that no one can tell what you are thinking. At one point, the captain of the guard takes you to the shooting range and puts a blaster in your hand. You know your mother is not happy with this lesson. She frowns when you say you were able to hit the smallest ring on the target, but she does not say it is wrong. 

You learn why you were taught these things when you sneak into your father's study and find a man with a bloody shoulder. The man has blue eyes, and red-blond hair that is going gray. He feels familiar, though you know you have never seen him before. You think the man might have seen you, but then your father returns with a med-kit to patch the strange man's shoulder. 

You learn that your father is a Rebel. He uses his ties in the Galactic Senate and the mercy missions he goes on to undermine the Emperor. He and your mother are trying to rebuild the Republic, and restore democracy. 

You and Winter agree that it's a wonderful secret. It's an adventure, a game you are learning how to play. 

Your father figures out that you know. He and your mother sit you and Winter down and you are told that it is a very dangerous secret. They tell you that if you are going to help, you will need to obey every order they give you and pay attention to all your lessons. This is a secret that means life or death, not just for you, but for hundreds of agents on hundreds of worlds, and all the people suffering under the Empire. 

You are ten years old and you swear that the Empire will fall. 

  
  
  


Your name is Leia Organa and you have recently become the senator for Alderaan. 

You are eighteen years old and the youngest elected senator in Alderaan's history. You are taking your father's place because too many people suspect him of too many things. On Alderaan, many people think you should have found a husband and followed your mother's path, that it would have been safer, more proper. Others say you are still a child playing dress-up. You watch speeches given throughout Alderaan's history, waiting for the day you can prove them wrong. 

Your chance comes in the Senate. You are debating a matter that in the end will mean little. The Senate has less and less power. Still, you can not help lashing out when the delegation from Rodia laughs calling you foolish and childish.

"If you strike my voice down, know that a chorus of thousands will rise up in its place." 

It is a line from Alderaan's history, first spoken by a senator from Naboo who was not much older than you are now. Your mother smiled when she found you watching that one. You feel a kinship with Senator Amidala. Clearly the other senators do not share your feelings. 

The senator from Rodia starts to respond but a chill sinks into the bones of everyone in the room. You find yourself looking up to the observation platforms. There is a figure standing there in a black mask and cape. You know him, though you have never met. His name is Lord Vader and he is the Emperor's right hand. The enforcer of your enemy's power.

You imagine you can hear his breathing in the silence that fills the room. You can certainly feel his anger, despite the distance. Vader turns and his cape billows out behind him as he marches out of the room. 

You have made an enemy. Except you have seen him as an enemy for some time. It is merely the first time they have noticed you. You have been trained to hide in plain sight, to avoid being noticed. It is dangerous to attract this kind of attention, and yet, you can't help the fire of satisfaction, knowing you have scored a point.

The other senators do not challenge you that day. They are too shaken. Many of them distance themselves from you. You will have a reputation after today. Your mother and father are not pleased. They insist you return to Alderaan. Publicly, it is framed as a polite reprimand. You all know it is really a way to get you out of harm's way until things calm down.

  
  
  


Your name is Leia Organa. 

You are a Rebel spy fighting to end the empire and restore the Republic. You are following in the footsteps of your father, the father who has now been captured by the dark Lord Vader. 

You tremble as you hear the news. Your father was only still on Coruscant because Alderaan had to have a representative and you were whisked away. You should have been the one Vader went after. It is all your fault, and you don't even know what you said that tipped him off. 

Vader sends you stills of your father. He is not dead, not yet, but he will be soon. Vader offers you a choice. Your life for your father’s. Your mother says not to sacrifice yourself. Winter says it has to be a trap. They are both right. You go anyway. 

You rationalize it to yourself. Your father is more important to the Rebellion. He knows more secrets, has more connections. Moreover, if they do kill you, the young princess of Alderaan will make a much better martyr to rally behind. Under the logic your anger is as bright and concentrated as a plasma-blade. 

Vader keeps his end of the deal and sends your father back to Alderaan with the expected threats about being watched. Winter goes with him. You argued about that, but in the end only one of you needs to be a sacrifice. 

That just leaves you to wait in a gilded cage until Vader decides what to do with you. You are not as frightened as you probably should be. You might be more frightened if Vader was doing something other than just standing there. As a tactic it leads something to be desired. If anything it gives you time to center herself, to hone your mental defenses to razor points and polished shields. It gives you time to plan, to go over what you're supposed to know and how you're supposed to act. 

You are caught flat-footed when, instead of the Rebellion, he asks about your birth parents. You tell him the truth, that you know nothing about them. You sometimes see a face that you believe is your mother in your dreams, but you never knew either of them and never needed to. His breathing is harsh as he outlines a tale as horrific as it is outrageous. 

He claims that Padmé Naberrie Amidala is your birth mother and that he is your birth father. 

A part of you wants to scream that it is a lie, but there is something about the words that you cannot deny. You sit rigid in your seat, every muscle tight as you try to work through why he might have told you. There is the obvious ploy for loyalty, but your parents - the Organas are still your parents no matter what he says - did not raise you to put blood before logic. 

Less than a day ago, this man who claims to be your father was torturing the man who raised you. Vader is the right hand of the Emperor, the man who is the linchpin of everything you hate, all the selfishness and corruption and rigid laws that only benefit those already in power. You hate the Emperor and hate this man, and no amount of shared blood will ever change that.

Then he surprises you for a second time. He approves of your anger. He says it is a tool that can make you strong. He offers to teach you the ways of the Force, the ways of the dark side. 

You grew up with stories of the Jedi. Of how they fought for peace and were betrayed, and then blamed for a betrayal of their own. You know about the light side and the dark side and how everyone in your family would react if they heard this offer, and yet, you don't say no. You know deep in your bones that sometimes the only way to destroy a monster is to find an even bigger one...or become one. 

You demand to know why. Why he's making this offer. Why he wants to teach you rather than torture you. He tells you about the Emperor, who is also a dark lord of the Sith and his master. He tells you that he cannot fight his master alone, not when Sidious could simply turn off his suit. He tells you that he sees your mother in you and that she was the last good thing in this galaxy. He doesn't seem to care about the politics or the people, but you do. 

He has painted a picture, the two of you taking down the head of the snake and ruling in his stead. That's not something you want, at least not the second half of it. Your anger very much approves of the first half, and you've never been one to refuse a weapon freely put into your hands. 

You argue with him, though in truth it's more of a negotiation. A back-and-forth that forms the backbone of a plan stretching into the future. You will not stay on Coruscant, both because it's too close to the seat of the Emperor's power and because you can't do any good there. Vader doesn't seem to care if you go back to the Rebellion. Perhaps he thinks that you'll slip up or that your loyalty will shift with time. You swear to yourself that that will not happen. You will never join the empire, but perhaps he could become a Rebel spy...

  
  
  
  


The name you use is Leia Organa, but it does not seem to fit anymore.

You were born Leia Naberrie-Skywalker, but that name does not fit either. It is the name of a stranger who might have been. 

The Rebellion knows you as Ripple. That at least is a name that you have made your own. That is also the only thing that Vader, that your father, knows about the Rebellion. You have been trained since childhood to conceal information, and he does not try to pry. As an interesting counterpoint, your family knows nothing about Vader, or at least nothing about your deal with him. You told them that he was called away to deal with a more important matter in the Mid-Rim, and with a lack of evidence and an eye to the propaganda, the Imperials let you go. You are all being watched, but that is hardly new. 

Time passes, enough time that it almost feels like a dream. The reality is hardly believable. The few coded messages he sends could easily be overlooked. 

Then you depart on a two-month "relief mission" to Onderon, and never reach your destination. Vader somehow convinces the pilots that you were never on board - a last minute change in plans - and everything is fine. You go with him, because this is part of the plan. Part of your training. And you're angry and afraid that he would dare do that to your people. 

The next two months are unlike anything you have experienced to that point in your life. They are harder than anything you have ever had to do, both physically and mentally. Vader, your father, pushes you to the limits of your endurance. There are days when you call up so much anger that you don't think you'll feel anything else ever again. There are days when you use up every emotion you have until you are nothing but a hollow shell. 

Now the masks you learned for the political arena serve a different purpose. You use them when you call your family every week, assuring them that you're alright and there's nothing to worry about. You lie to them as you conceal the bruises and burns from your lightsaber lessons; as you focus on not feeling, so they won't see the yellow creeping into your eyes.

Your father says he's proud of your progress. 

Your father would be horrified to know the truth.

Sometimes you're too weary to remember which man is which.

At the end of the two months you and your father sit down and go over the next step in your plan. You know enough now to properly shield your presence, not just mask it with meditation as you learned when you were a child. You know now that your parents must have known about your Force-sensitivity, and worked to hide it. You do not know what to think about that. So much of your life is made up of secrets that it is sometimes hard to know the important ones from the meaningless ones. 

In the last hour before you are to leave, your father asks if you would like a Sith name. You're not sure if he sees it as a badge of honor, or a milestone, or if he is simply following patterns that have been taught to him. You no longer deny that you are Sith, but you do not take a name. You have enough of those already.

  
  
  
  
  


Your name is Leia.

People call you princess and senator and three people call you daughter. Two of those people see you often, even if it's only by holo. The third you see only once every month or so. It takes a certain skill to match up when you and Vader will both be off-planet and in the same sector of the galaxy, but you both have enough freedom of movement to manage it most of the time. 

Often you only see your father for a day or two at a time, after that first two months of training. He spars with you. Tests you. Tells you what to practice and then sends you back to the world. 

Once he draws you away for a full week. He takes you to an ice planet that has been swarmed with Imperials. He dresses you as an Inquisitor, and has you follow him deep into the icy caverns. Then he tells you to go in deeper alone, and bring back what you find. 

There are nightmares in those caverns. You see your parents die, all three of them, at the Emperor's hand. You see Winter standing by Sidious, whispering to him everything she's seen with her perfect memory. You see your mother - your birth mother, Padm é \- crying. You see a boy your own age with golden hair and wide innocent eyes. He asks you why. You say that it is for him. For all the people like him. Your hands will run red and your eyes will burn, so that no one else will have to feel that pain. 

You don't know how you make it out of there. You don't know where or how you found the crystal that shines like a red star when your father shows you how to construct a lightsaber. You do know that you are stronger now. That those weaknesses will not be turned against you again. For the first time you duel with your father properly, not with a training saber or one he captured off a dead Jedi, but with a blade of your own. Your sun-fire against his lava. You score a point on him that day and you smile.

  
  
  
  
  


Today you are Leia Skywalker. 

It has been two years since your father told you who he was. Two years that have been the hardest of your life. You are stronger now than anyone could imagine. Even your father is sometimes surprised by the strength of your hatred. And it was all for today. 

Vader has told you about his master but you have never met the man. Oh, you have been in the same room as him, applauding his speeches or toasting his health at galas, but he has never given you a second glance. 

Today that changes. 

You want to surprise him, so you do not go in dressed for battle, not openly. Your cortosis, acquired at great personal cost, is hidden under a flowing sunset-colored gown. For ease you've braided your hair up into a crown on top of your head. Your lightsaber is easily hidden up your sleeve. One little push from the Force convinces the guards to ignore it and the hold-out blaster in your boot. They think you are just another senator, come to discuss political problems with the Emperor.

You are ready for many things. You are ready for the Sith Lord to attack. You are ready for him to try to choke you or throw lightning at you or even pontificate about how he saw all of this coming. You are ready for him to hit a kill switch and turn off the suit that is keeping your father alive. You do not expect him to call you by your mother's name. To rise from his seat with confusion on his face. 

You didn't expect it, but that doesn't mean you won't use it. 

He is so surprised by your bland smile and political politeness that he lets you get close. You dip in a gesture of respect, and your lightsaber falls into your hand. 

After all your training, killing him is almost easy. One flash of your lightsaber through the chest, a second to take off his head. Then your father is beside you, shielding you from the rippling explosion of dark energy. 

You are both alive. 

The guards have questions, of course, but your father is the right hand of the Emperor, and those who ask questions after that are easily dealt with. It is possibly the quietest coup in history. 

You return to the throne and find your father looking out over the city. You face him with your lightsaber unlit in your hand, and tell him to leave. You tell him that the Rebellion is on its way. You tell him of the careful messages sent over the last few days, the scattered teams waiting for your signal. The signal you sent out when you felt the Emperor die.

You tell him to leave before they get here, because there is no version of this where they don't kill him. As much as you've kept to your promise not to betray the Rebels, you've lost the fight not to love the man who would have been your father. 

He says that what you have done, killing the Emperor, will not bring back the Republic. You say that it's a start. For all the plans you made together, you never told him about the plans you made for after.

You watch him go. Watch him take a small unmarked shuttle from the docks and vanish up into the sky. You feel him until he jumps to lightspeed. The bond between you is strong enough that even then you know which direction to turn if you wanted to find him.

Only then do you sit on the Emperor's throne, ignite your blade and show the galaxy how things are going to be, going forward.

  
  
  
  
  
  


You are Empress Leia.

You do not use the name Organa, because that family would be ashamed that you have done what you have. They do not reach out to you, and you do not try to contact them. You have all your forces pull back from Aldreraan and hope that is enough for now. You do not use the name Skywalker. That name has its own legend, and not one that you want people to associate with your New Republic. Naberrie is a name that no one associates with anything. You use that. You say it was the name of your birth mother and no one steps forward to dispute it. 

For now you rule the New Republic as the Empire was ruled. You pit the Moffs against each other, and grant the regional governors more power even as you make the strictures on what they can do more flexible. 

The Inquisitors pose a problem at first, but one by one you win them over, or kill them if they push you to it. None of them have had the training you had. Even those old enough to know the Jedi flinch from you. Two of them you nominate as your personal guards and emissaries. They are like fire and water. One a red-haired human woman your own age, and the other a Mirialan a dozen years your senior. 

It will take years to prune back the Empire to let democracy grow, but now at least it has a chance. Years are something you are willing to give, even if it takes a lifetime. You will be the last Empress, and as you fall you will show the galaxy how to rise again.


End file.
